President Trump is escalating his criticism of Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for his unwillingness to overhaul the “blue slip,” a move that has further dismayed Senate Republicans.
Trump is growing increasingly upset that some of his choices for judicial posts remain stalled and on Monday vowed to take legal action against the longtime Senate custom, which allows senators to block district court judge and U.S. attorney nominees from their home states.
And the president has increasingly trained his fire on Grassley, who is tasked with shepherding Trump’s judicial picks through the Senate and has steadfastly stood behind the practice.
Trump’s latest salvo grated on GOP senators who were already frustrated with the president’s attacks on Grassley, the longest-serving senator of the current Congress who has been a stalwart in the GOP conference for decades. Many believe the barbs are unwarranted and that Trump is making a strategic error.
“Why you’re picking a fight you can’t win is really beyond most of our comprehension,” one Senate Republican told The Hill.
“It also doesn’t make sense in the face of other members who have said regardless of what the chair may do that I would uphold the blue slip policy for the remainder of this Congress,” the Senate GOP member continued. “It makes no sense picking a fight that the president has no way of winning. Period. Full stop.”
Trump’s initial comments came on Sunday night when he declared that his “Constitutional Right” to appoint judges and U.S. attorneys “has been completely taken away from me.”
“This is because of an old and outdated ‘custom’ known as a BLUE SLIP, that Senator Chuck Grassley, of the Great State of Iowa, refuses to overturn, even though the Democrats, including Crooked Joe Biden (Twice!), have done so on numerous occasions,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The president also pushed Grassley to “allow strong Republican candidates to ascend to these very vital and powerful roles, and tell the Democrats, as they often tell us, to go to HELL!”
It’s the second barrage of attacks Trump has leveled against Grassley this summer, having panned him for refusing to budge on the issue last month. But unlike most other fights, Senate Republicans, in both instances, decidedly did not rush to Trump’s side and instead gave the Iowa Republican backup.
“Blue slips have stopped Obama and Biden from getting more liberal judges on the bench in conservative states. They’re used effectively,” one Senate GOP aide said, noting there is not much chance of a change after many members rallied to Grassley’s side in July.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) at the time told reporters there is little appetite to change the practice.
Trump on Monday said he would file a lawsuit to stop the use of blue slips in the Senate, arguing in the Oval Office he can only get U.S. attorneys whom Democrats approve.
“We’re also going to be filing a lawsuit on blue slipping. You know, blue slips make it impossible for me as president to appoint a judge or a U.S. attorney because they have a gentleman’s agreement, nothing memorialized, it’s a gentleman’s agreement that’s about 100 years old where if you have a president, like a Republican, and if you have a Democrat senator, that senator can stop you from appointing a judge or a U.S. attorney in particular, those two,” Trump said.
“You’ll be hearing about the blue slipping. Because if you have — you don’t need two senators, you just need one Democrat senator with a Republican,” he added. “The only person I will be able to get approved in any of those states where you have a Democrat, I can’t get a U.S. attorney, I can only get a Democrat U.S. attorney.”
What has also been notable to members is the impetus for the latest attacks, which appear to stem from the inability to confirm Alina Habba to become U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
Habba, who was part of Trump’s personal legal team, was named as acting U.S. attorney earlier this year for a term that lasted 120 days and nominated for the full-time post, but was unable to advance because of opposition from Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.).
A panel of judges then denied her from continuing to serve and appointed Desiree Leigh Grace, her first assistant, to the interim position. Trump withdrew Habba’s nomination a day later.
Attorney General Pam Bondi proceeded to fire Grace from the post and appoint Habba in an attempt to keep her in the top role on an interim basis, but that maneuver is under intense scrutiny after a district judge declared that she is “not lawfully” holding the position.
“It’s still a miscalculation,” the Senate Republican said about Habba sparking the latest comments. “I don’t see any scenario where the president can succeed because there are other people who have expressed concern, and there’s generally I think solid support among the members.”
For her part, Habba has also recently taken aim at Grassley for holding up the blue slip practice, saying it is “not a law.” She has also bashed Booker and Kim for not speaking to her despite her “attempts to meet them.”
Grassley on Monday continued to defend his use of the blue slip and said the Judiciary panel never received her paperwork for vetting.
“A U.S. Atty/district judge nominee without a blue slip does not hv the votes to get confirmed on the Senate floor & they don’t hv the votes to get out of cmte As chairman I set Pres Trump noms up for SUCCESS NOT FAILURE,” Grassley said on the social platform X. “Habba was withdrawn as the President’s nominee for New Jersey U.S. Atty on July 24 &the Judic cmte never received any of the paperwork needed for the Senate to vet her nomination.”
“The 100 yr old ‘blue slip’ allows home state senators 2 hv input on US attys & district court judges In Biden admin Republicans kept 30 LIBERALS OFF BENCH THAT PRES TRUMP CAN NOW FILL W CONSERVATIVES,” Grassley added.
